DGCA Imposed Rs 10 Lakh Fine on SpiceJet

On Monday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) fined no-frills airline SpiceJet Rs 10 lakh for training pilots on 737 Max aircraft in a failed simulator. Previously, DGCA banned 90 SpiceJet pilots from flying B737 Max aircraft. The pilots would have had to be retrained, supervisors ordered.

This will take place within eight months of DGCA lifting the ban on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. 346 people were killed worldwide after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia took place between March 2019 and December 2020, but DGCA lifted the ban in August last year.

The bug was discovered during regulatory oversight at the Greater Noida facility of CAE Simulation Training Pvt Ltd (CSTPL), a joint venture of Interglobe Enterprise, IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia, and Canadian flight simulator company CAE.

CSTPL only approved 737 MAX simulators in India. It was installed by Boeing as part of the compensation package provided to SpiceJet for business losses due to two years of grounding.